School has just started for me today, so you can't expect updates quite as often, but, once I get three reviews for a chapter, I'll work on getting the next one up as soon as possible.

Sharpclaw awoke with a start and looked around cautiously as early morning rain fell on her fur. It was still dark; the sun wasn't up yet, but the lights just starting to loom over the horizon told her it was soon. She could hear the sound of raspy breathing, and she could just barely make out a moving patch of grass in the darkness. Her heart pounding nervously, she stepped toward it. The breathing stopped, and so did she. The grass rustled slightly again, and she took another shaky step forward. Her nose was nearly touching the clump of grass now, but all she could smell was the heavy dew.

With a deep breath, she pinpointed the creature, whatever it was, with her ears and leapt through the grass. She was surprised to find herself land directly in front of another cat, one so out of shape all it could do was look up at her hostiley. Sharpclaw recognized him instantly.

"You! What are you doing here?"

The ragged cat stared up at her. He took a deep breath and rasped at her. "I know who I am but who are you?"

"My name's Sharpclaw. You nearly scratched my ear off when you ThunderClan cats fought us for the field!" She tried to keep her voice hostile, but it wasn't to feel hatred for the pathetic thing in front of her.

All he did was glare with recognition, still panting like a dog. Sharpclaw glared back at him.

"Just who are you, anyway? And why are you breathing so hard?"

He took another breath. "I'm Nightshade, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Whatever." Sharpclaw retorted, an watched him for a moment. He layed his head on the ground, and he seemed to be asleep. But he soon opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Well? Are you going to kill me or not?"

She stared in astonishment. What would make him think that? She'd been about to ask him when he interuppted her.

"I'm waiting! You're with WindClan, you shouldn't think twice about killing me."

"Just who do you think you are to be saying that? The warrior code prevents us from killing in cold blood, and WindClan follows the code clearly, but you seem to be implying that we kill cats needlessly. Besides, I'm not with WindClan anymore." She turned her nose up and ignored him.

"Well then, you don't have to kill me. Just leave me here to die."

"That would be the same as me killing you, you mouse-brain. I would be the last one to see you, and so I'd be responsible for your death."

With that, she stalked off. "I'll be back."

"Good riddance!"

Sharpclaw surpressed a hiss of aggravation as she trotted off. He seemed to talking now, at least. Scenting a mouse, she leapt quickly and caught it with ease. She might not like Nightshade, but she wasn't about to let anycat die. Carrying the mouse back to Nightshade's clearing, she found he was asleep. She set the mouse and looked around, wondering what to do. The sun was coming up already, and she couldn't just leave him here, so she bent down to his neck.

Grabbing his scruff in her mouth, she began to pull him toward the Talltree. She was surprised to find that he was a lot heavier than he seemed. For the first time, she noticed that he was quite muscular, for a cat his age, without being a hulking mass of muscles. Lying Nightshade's body in the small hollow she'd dug for herself, she dug another small hole and curled up in it with a final glance at the tabby body next to her.

Lightpelt felt truly downhearted. He'd been sent on one of extra patrols that went before dawn to search for Sharpclaw. The rain was coming down heavily, soaking him along with Flashfur and Wetstorm, who were patrolling with him. Flashfur seemed to drag himself along with an obvious effort, like he wasn't really there. He'd been like that since the previous night when they'd all realized that Sharpclaw hadn't come back from the Gathering. Strangely, Lightpelt felt as sad as if he'd lost his sister, too.

Soon enough, they came across a dead mouse, more by accident than anything. Lightpelt had been about to scoff at it, wasted prey that it was, but then he noticed the bite marks on it's front legs. His mind flashed back to when Sharpclaw had caught her first mouse. She'd carried it's front legs in her mouth, letting the rest of it dangle freely, and she'd done the same ever since then.

"Sharpclaw!" He exclaimed loudly. Flashfur ran over.

"What?"

"Look at this! Only Sharpclaw carries her mice like that. I know it's her!"

Flashfur stuck his nose into it. The scent would be almost gone by now in the rain, but Flashfur had always known his sister's scent best, and he was one of the best trackers WindClan had.

"It is her!"

Wetstorm stepped over to them. "Well, since she is a WindClan cat, it counts as our prey, so let's bring it back to camp." The gray tabby picked up the dead mouse and trotted back to the camp.

Flashfur stood there in the rain, looking out toward the horizon, where the sun had just risen.

"It just doesn't make sense. Why would she run away?"

Lightpelt tried to console him. "She's a strong warrior. She can take care of herself. I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is."

Flashfur looked up at him with a thankful look in his eyes, and the two of them followed Wetstorm back through the grass.

Sharpclaw awoke slowly to find that she could hardly see anything. The sunrise had been accompanied by a thick mist, and heavy dew, which clung to her coat and made her feel soaked and heavy. Looking over, she realized with a start that Nightshade wasn't next to her.

Leaping quickly to her paws, she looked around. He couldn't have gotten too far already. Sure enough, when she ran around to the other side of the Talltree, she could his dark tabby body walking slowly away. She ran quickly up to him and blocked his path.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Move it! I'm leaving."

"Not that way you're not. That's WindClan territory."

"I thought you wern't with WindClan anymore." he sneered at her.

"That doesn't mean I can't defend them!" she retorted, her fur bristling. "You're in no condition to travel anyway, with that scar."

Nightshade eye's suddenly lost the light of anger, though they were still wary. "Just how bad is it?"

Sharpclaw stared doubtfully at the side of his face. A mess of blood had mangled his fur where it had run from a deep scratch between his right eye and ear. Just two claws over and he would only have one eye right now. "It's bad. You need a medicine cat."

He slumped down to the ground moodily. "Well, I'm fresh out of them."

Sharpclaw could almost hear her mind working as she stared at him. All those times she had helped Foxnose, and now couldn't remember what to use for stopping infection. "Stay here." she said to Nightshade, and walked off into the nearby weeds.

She didn't know what she was looking for, but she was bound to find something or other out here. Looking around her, she spotted all the opposite herbs from what she needed. Yarrow would make him sick, no cobwebs, it wasn't bleeding anymore, no burdock root, it wasn't a rat bite. Poppy seeds-he might needs those for the pain. She quickly bit off the seeds and continued on. Finally, Sharpclaw saw a marigold plant and her memory rushed back. Horsetail and marigold leaves were good for infection.

She carried the leaves and the poppy seeds back to Nightshade, happy to see that he hadn't gone anywhere this time.

"Here." she said as she put the poppy seeds down in front of him. She began chewing the marigold leaves as he licked them up.

"Are you a medicine cat?" he asked, wincing slightly as she pressed the marigold poultice on the side of his face.

She finished applying the leaves and stepped back. "No. But I used to help one."

"Apprentice?"

"No. We were apprentices at the same time. My turn. Exactly how did you get that scratch on your face?"

He avoided her gaze for a moment, then looked back up almost apoligetically. "I ran into a tree."

She stared at him. "A tree?" He nodded, embarressed. "And how did you run into a tree that hard. Was it when you were running?"

He looked up in surprise. She mrrowed with laughter. "You don't have to be a medicine cat to tell you were running from something."

He sighed. "Let's just say I needed to get away. I don't want to talk about it."

Sharpclaw was about to complain, but the fire in his eyes discouraged her. She straigtened up as his angry gaze turned to a thoughtful one. "And what about you. You said you left WindClan."

"I ran away." she blurted out before she could stop herself. Why was she so comfortable around him? She mentally scratched herself before she noticed that Nightshade was still staring.

"Why?" he asked without warning.

Sharpclaw laid her ears flat. Could she trust a ThunderClan cat with her secrets? She then shook her head. She wasn't with WindClan anymore, and loners didn't have Clan loyalties. Besides, he clearly wasn't with a Clan any more than she was, no matter how much he smelled like it.

"My father was from ShadowClan, and my mother from RiverClan. Or, at least my real one was." Nightshade settled himself in front of her, sensing a good story. "My real mother turned her back on my father, somehow, so he stole us, me and my brother, from her. He took us to live with a kittypet named Marie in an abandoned Twoleg house. She was as good of a mother as any cat. But then one day, some Twolegs came and took her away, so we ran away. And then some cats from WindClan found us, so we ended up joining them. So that's my story."

"Wow. You're not what I expected." Nightshade said when she'd finished.

She gave him a sharp look. "Just what did you expect?"

"Nothing. You just look like a Clan-born cat, that's all."

Sharpclaw didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. "What about you. Why'd you leave?"

He glared at her. "I said I don't-"

"Don't tell me you don't want to talk about it." She interuppted. "I've heard it enough."

He glared at her again before dropping his gaze. "Look. I haven't quite really figured it all out myself, so just leave me alone."

Sharpclaw shrugged. "If that's what you want." She started to walk away, intent on leaving him there.

"Wait!" He called out to her, and she spun around quickly. "I know I was mean to you earlier, but I can't do anything on my own while I'm hurt. I need your help." He looked as if he was struggling with the words, like he'd never had to ask for help before.

She stared at him. "That's what I thought you'd say." she said as she trotted back over to him.

Reviews Please! Oh, and in advance, I have most of the plot planned out in advance, and just so you know, someone will die before the end!